Dream For a Dreemurr
by LittleFireDragon
Summary: "It seems that there's still one last person that needs to be saved." A selfless wish becomes a dream; a dream becomes a quest. With the help of their friends, Frisk sets out to SAVE Asriel, whatever it takes. The very thought of it fills them with determination. (Papyrus is in the story too but FFnet only lets me list four characters)
1. Birthday

_**Author's Note:**_ _This fic is also available on my DeviantArt account of the same name. I strongly recommend you read it there; being an Undertale fic, it makes use of font effects that can't be used on FFnet. The story is still perfectly readable here, of course, but I think it's better with the formatting intact, the way it was meant to be seen. Plus, there will be additional author commentary on DA, since they give me a separate place to write it in. Feel free to leave reviews on whichever site you choose to. If you're reading on one site and commenting on the other, however, please make an effort to post your comment/review on the correct chapter! Thank you!_

* * *

It was a beautiful day outside. Birds were singing; flowers were blooming. And on a day like this, Frisk was celebrating their birthday.

The child sat on a bean bag in front of the television, playing a co-op puzzle-solving game with Papyrus, while Asgore watched from the couch. Mettaton sat cross-legged on the floor nearby, plugged into a wall socket, back-seat gaming. There was a knock at the door, but before Asgore could get up to answer it, the door flew open, slamming into the wall.

"WHERE'S THE BIRTHDAY KID?!" Undyne bellowed, barging into the house while Alphys remained standing outside on the welcome mat, looking mortified. The naiad swept the child up in one arm; the controller dropped to the ground and Frisk's character fell off a ledge. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PUNK!"

"UNDYNE, PLEASE DON'T NOOGIE THE HUMAN!"

The skeleton's protest prompted Undyne to let Frisk go and roughly rub her fist across _his_ skull instead. "How else am I supposed to show my affection?" she asked, still grinning from fin to fin.

"PLEASE DON'T NOOGIE THE SKELETON."

Alphys sheepishly let herself in as Undyne let Papyrus go. Sporting an embarrassed grin, the drake's first instinct was to try to divert attention away from the scene her girlfriend had caused. "Um, h-hi everyone! Sorry we're late!" And once everyone's attention was on her, she realized she didn't know what else to say. The grin widened and warped.

Thankfully, that was the moment Sans opened the door from the back deck and poked his head in. "'dogs're ready." Frisk jumped up and gave him a quick hug, thanking him again for cooking for them. "yeah, no problem, kiddo. but only 'cause it's your special day," he said with a wink.

Then Frisk took off for the kitchen, and everyone else followed suit.

* * *

" _Happy birthday, dear Frisk, happy birthday to you!_ "

As the song ended, Toriel carefully placed the cake in front of Frisk. It really was a lovely cake, covered in white buttercream icing and decorated with colorful fondant snails. At the top, two molded candles formed the number 11.

The child stared thoughtfully at the candles for a moment, considering their options. Then they smiled and blew the candles out. _I wish to save Asriel._

The monsters applauded politely as Toriel cut the cake.

* * *

"Do you like it, darling? We can always take it back and get you a different one if you don't like the smell." Frisk smiled and opened one of the lids to take a sniff; the shampoo was buttercup scented. They assured Mettaton they did like his gift, although they didn't know what some of the other things in the basket were.

"Oh, that's alright, honey," the robot said, "I can explain it all to you. Maybe when I get back from my tour, I can do your hair some time? Would you like that, darling?" Frisk nodded happily and thanked the robot, placing the basket of MTT brand hair products next to the boxed set of anime DVDs Alphys had given them and the paint kit from Asgore.

Next, they opened up the tiny package from Undyne. Inside was a thick, oval shaped object, metallic around the edges but covered with shiny purple enamel on the sides. It had the delta rune emblazoned on it. The child turned the object over in their hands.

"It's a Royal Guard Knife!" the warrior woman explained, grinning. "It's got all kinds of cool tools in it, like knives and a fire starter! I think it's also got some lame stuff like a compass or whatever, but I never use that!"

"Oh, dear! My child, I do not think that is safe for you to have," Toriel protested, prying the thing out of Frisk's hand. She put it down on the end table next to her and glared at the naiad.

Undyne picked it up. "Sorry, Toriel. I'll take it back and exchange it for something else." Moments later, when the boss monster leaned over to pick up her own present and give it to Frisk, Undyne silently slipped the Royal Guard Knife into the child's pocket, holding one finger up to her lips.

Nobody was any the wiser as the human unwrapped their next gift – a beautiful green book decorated with elegant gold floral designs, titled _Legends and Surface Tales: Traditional Monster Stories._ They opened it to a random page and saw a stunning full-page illustration of a small dog monster in a red cloak being menaced by a big, bad human. Frisk closed the book and thanked Toriel.

The next gift didn't have a label, but it didn't need one. It was wrapped in what was obviously a cut up paper bag, with the grocery store's logo still visible on it. At least Sans had gone to the trouble of wrapping the gift instead of simply placing it in the bag.

* * *

That night, Frisk lay stomach-down on their bed, reading their new book. Though their eyelids grew heavier with each page, they were so engrossed in story after story, illustration after illustration, that they couldn't put it down. This one had a picture of a cloaked figure wielding a green sword confronting a much larger, frightening-looking monster.

 _Long ago, well before the surface war, in the time before humans lost the gift of magic, monsters and humans lived together in peace. But despite this, it was not a happy time. The people of this land lived in fear, for they were ruled by a terrible tyrant of a Boss Monster. The King cared not for his subjects, but only for his own power, which he had bolstered with the selfish misuse of the powerful artifacts, which in those days were still common._

 _The people had soon had enough, and decided that something must be done. But nobody wanted to risk the wrath of the King's Royal Guards, who in those dark days were little more than thugs. So the suffering continued, until one day the wife of a brave and handsome monster named Cahir was slain. Grieving, he vowed to end the cruelty and oppression._

 _Cahir traveled from town to town, and each time he stopped, he stirred the hearts of the people and rallied them to his side. With each town he passed, the resistance grew, and with it grew the hopes and dreams of the villagers. Cahir's fame spread far and wide, and monsters and humans alike journeyed to join him on his quest. Among his followers he counted great warriors and clever wizards, but the dearest of all was the healer, Eira, a green-eyed human from across the sea, who loved Cahir deeply._

 _But it wasn't long before the King heard that his subjects were uniting against him, and he was furious. He declared Cahir an outlaw, and ordered his guards to find him and put him to death. The guards spread across the kingdom, terrorizing the people._

 _It was not until the brave hero came to a burnt village that he learned of the bounty on his head. As Cahir and his followers rushed to douse the remaining flames, they came to a skeleton lying in the middle of the road, with all the bones in his hands and feet broken._

 _The skeleton spoke to Eira as she healed him, and told her that the town had been burned and the inhabitants mutilated by the Royal Guard, as a punishment for refusing to aid in the capture of Cahir. He warned that the King had made an example of his town, and other villages might turn against Cahir for fear of the same fate._

 _With a heavy heart, the brave hero told his followers to remain in the burnt town and help the villagers. If he continued his journey from town to town, he knew many innocent people would be hurt. He had no choice but to confront the King, alone, and without further preparation. He told his friends that he would go on in disguise, and asked them not to follow him or give up hope. Only in Eira did he confide the truth, and she begged to go with him, but he denied her pleas._

 _For three days and three nights, Cahir journeyed, until at last he came to the King's castle. In his fury, the tyrant had made a terrible mistake, for he had sent all of his guards to find Cahir, leaving none for his own defense. The brave monster stood outside and demanded that the King come out and face him in fair combat, but the King was a coward, and instead sent servants armed only with kitchen knives to capture Cahir._

 _Being only servants, and so poorly equipped, they had but to lay eyes on his fine emerald sword to know that they were doomed should they fight him, and begged him for mercy. Cahir, of course, was clever and kind, and told the servants that no harm would come to them if they helped him. So the servants pretended to capture Cahir, and they brought him before the King in his throne room, whereupon they released him and fled for their lives._

 _The two monsters fought for a full day, and into the night, but no matter how Cahir wounded the King, he would not die. Eventually, the Boss Monster had Cahir at his mercy, and in his arrogance, he boasted that Cahir could never have won, for his soul was protected by the magical gem embedded in his throne. But unbeknownst to him, Eira had followed Cahir but a day behind, and was now standing behind the King. She heard what the King said, and saw the stone._

 _With all her might, the human toppled the throne, so that it fell stone-first into the hard floor, smashing the artifact and releasing its magic. Cahir used the last of his strength to strike one final blow with his emerald sword, and slew the King where he stood._

 _Eira hurried to Cahir's side, but his wounds were too great for her powers to overcome. The fallen hero lamented that his last action was to take a life, and made a dying wish that his blade should never harm another again. The healer promised that she would see his wish through, and on the stroke of midnight, Cahir turned to dust in Eira's arms._

 _The grieving human spread Cahir's dust on the sword and returned to the village where the rest of his followers remained. It was decided that the artifacts the King had abused for so long should be locked away in hidden places, far from those who would misuse them. Likewise, to fulfil Cahir's dying request and memorialize his sacrifice, his blade would be enshrined somewhere far away._

 _So Eira retreated to a sacred place where a great ash tree grew in a cavern deep under a mountain, and there she built a crypt within the mighty roots. But the healer knew the simple isolation of the sword would not be enough to keep her promise forever. For three months, three weeks, and three days, she worked, weaving an enchantment that would ensure the sword would do no more harm, for all time. Then, in her grief, she used the last of the magic stones to seal her own sleeping soul within the blade, never to be separated from Cahir again._

The child frowned. They wanted to keep going, to read another story with a happier ending – but, at last, they could no longer resist the weight of sleep. They closed the book, put it on their bedside table, and turned out the light.

As Frisk drifted off, the wish they'd made that day filled them with _determination_.


	2. Gemma Ex Machina

Frisk drifted slowly back into the waking world, becoming aware of the solidness of the bed beneath them and the brightness of the morning light hanging in the air around them. They could hear Toriel going about her morning routine downstairs.

Their mind sorted the new awareness from the old, separating reality from the dream, even while it faded, as dreams are wont to do. The voice and words slipped without resistance from the child's memory – the marveling at their rare and selfless wish, the questions, the request, the images – until only a few fragments of the dream remained.

There had been some sort of… call to action. Something that left the child with a sense of urgency, and determination. Something related to the one, central image that retained clarity: the bronze pocket compass, engraved with strange symbols and set with four triangular amethysts. But they could not remember what it was, and didn't really care. It had only been a dream. Frisk, thankful that it was a weekend, rolled lazily over and put their hand under their pillow to adjust it – only to bump into something small and hard. Their eyes snapped open, and they sat up.

Frisk moved the pillow out of the way, and stared for a moment in disbelief – for there, under their pillow, was a small purple gem, exactly like the ones on the compass from their dream. The child carefully scooped up the gem and put it on their nightstand, got out of bed, and got dressed. Then they picked up the amethyst and looked at it for a good, long time. The child silently put the jewel in their pocket and went downstairs for breakfast, thinking the whole time about what it could mean. They couldn't really remember, but it had something to do with their birthday wish; they were sure of it.

"Good morning, my child. Did you sleep well?" Frisk assured her that they had, and thanked her for breakfast.

Then, once they'd finished, they asked if they could go over to the skeleton brothers' house.

"Isn't it a bit early to go to a friend's house, my child? Besides, you have not yet finished all of your homework." Frisk tried to argue that they'd do it when they got back, but Toriel just put her hands on her hips. "I have heard that before, and then you forgot to do it. Why don't you do your homework now, and then you can go over to Sans's and Papyrus's house for lunch? I am sure Papyrus would welcome having another taste tester after his cooking lesson with Undyne this afternoon."

Frisk didn't put up any more resistance, but resigned themselves to filling out worksheets and doing assigned reading.

* * *

The door opened before the child was even done wiping their boots on the welcome mat.

"HI UNDYNE!" The skeleton paused briefly. "WAIT. YOU'RE NOT UNDYNE. ARE YOU HERE FOR COOKING LESSONS TOO, FRISK?" Papyrus turned around and shouted into the house, "SANS! GET UP, YOU LAZYBONES! WE HAVE A VISITOR!"

"nah, i'm good, thanks."

"DON'T BE RUDE, SANS! FRISK IS HERE TO SEE US!"

"ok, fine. i'll be out in a minute."

It wasn't long before Undyne showed up, bringing Alphys with her. She adapted on the spot to teaching two students at once, divvying up tasks between them in her typically over-the-top and loud fashion. Naturally, the kitchen was utter chaos. At some point, Sans finally wandered out of his room and plopped down on the couch next to Alphys to watch. A glob of spaghetti sauce hit him in the forehead; he didn't bother to wipe it off.

"Stir faster! FASTER!" the naiad shouted at the top of her lungs, while Papyrus stirred the spaghetti so furiously that boiling hot water spattered the counter and nearly hit Frisk. "Whoa, watch the splashing! Don't wanna burn anyone," Undyne remarked, then went right back to shouting as the skeleton adjusted the angle of the spoon to avoid sloshing. "Fuhuhuhu! THAT'S THE SPIRIT! THROW YOUR ALL INTO THIS!"

The timer went off; everybody instinctively looked at the smoke alarm to verify that it was, indeed, the timer. When cooking with Undyne, one could never be sure.

"Papyrus! Drain the noodles! Let the water symbolize your passion and POUR IT OUT INTO YOUR WORK!"

"BUT, AREN'T WE POURING THE WATER _OUT_ OF OUR WORK?"

"DETAILS! JUST POUR THE WATER INTO THE SINK! Watch the steam; it's hot. FRISK! ADD THE SEASONING TO THE SAUCE!" The child enthusiastically flipped the lid open on the container of Italian seasoning and turned it upside-down over the pot of sauce – nothing came out.

Undyne blinked. "Uhh… That's alright! WE'LL JUST MAKE OUR OWN SEASONING! Papyrus, where's that book?!"

"IN MY BEDROOM! FRISK, WOULD YOU GO GET THE RECIPE BOOK? IT'S CALLED _101 ITALIAN RECIPES_. IT'S GREEN. YOU CAN'T MISS IT!"

Frisk hopped off the stepstool they were standing on and darted to the skeleton's room. But as they were scanning the bookshelf for _101 Italian Recipes_ , something metallic caught their eye, and when they stopped to take a look, the fiery excitement blew out like a candle, leaving them feeling stunned and cold.

It was a compass. An intricately engraved bronze compass on a delicate chain, set with three amethysts, and an empty socket. Frisk picked it up and opened the lid. The needle remained stuck in position, not responding to movement.

"WHAT'S TAKING SO LONG, PUNK?!" Undyne shouted from the kitchen. The child closed the compass and put it in their pocket, and quickly located the book Papyrus had indicated. They hurried back into the kitchen and opened the book to the dog-eared page. Frisk tried their best to get back into the swing of things, but the compass lurked at the back their mind the whole time.

It wasn't until everyone was at the table, and things had calmed down a bit – as much as they ever could with Undyne around – that the child brought it up. They pulled the compass from their pocket and showed it to Papyrus.

"AH! I SEE YOU HAVE FOUND MY COMPASS! JUST ONE OF THE MANY TREASURES OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS!"

Alphys nearly fell face-first into her bowl of mostly-untouched spaghetti. "P-Papyrus! Where did you get that?!"

Now, all eyes were on the compass. To get such a reaction, it had to be more important than it appeared to be, and everyone knew it.

"I FOUND IT!"

The drake stared incredulously. "You… _found_ it? Just… lying on the ground?"

"YES."

There was a pause, then Alphys held out a claw. "Uh, m-may I take a… closer look?"

"OF COURSE! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM ALWAYS WILLING TO SHARE MY TREASURES WITH MY FRIENDS!" Papyrus put the compass in Alphys's hand.

She adjusted her glasses and carefully examined the artifact. "This- This is… ancient! It must pre-date the Surface War, at least! And it's in such good condition! I can even read the inscription! Um, it says, uh, _'The magic… of a pure… monster's soul… reveals… the path.'_ It, uh, rhymes in its original language." Alphys put the compass down in the middle of the table. "You have a good eye, Frisk. I'm glad you noticed this!"

Frisk told their friends that they'd recognized the compass because they'd seen it in a dream, and when they'd woken up, they'd found a gem under their pillow. As proof, they pulled the amethyst from their pocket and held it out for the others to see, then pushed it into place in the empty socket on the compass. It fit perfectly. Everyone stared first at the compass, then, at the child.

"maybe you'd better start from the beginning," Sans said.

Frisk took a deep breath. They reminded their friends of the flash of light just before the barrier had broken, and explained for the first time just what, exactly, had happened there. They told the monsters about Flowey, about his true identity as the soulless husk of Prince Asriel, and as they spoke, the monsters' own knowledge of the flower and the prince came together, pieces falling into place. The child told them how Asriel was still trapped in the underground, and how they had wished to save him. They told them what they could of the dream, which wasn't much, and how they were sure it was the key to fulfilling their wish.

And the monsters listened. The sight of the compass that proved their words filled Frisk with _determination._


	3. The Quest Begins

There was a silence at the table as the monsters let the revelation sink in. Undyne took in a deep breath and let it out as a long sigh. She looked at the child and said, "I guess that means we're going back into the Underground, doesn't it?" Frisk nodded forcefully. "Do you even know what we're going to do once we get there?"

The child frowned. They looked at the restored compass for a long moment. _The magic of a pure monster's soul reveals the path._ Suddenly, Frisk picked it up and pressed it into Papyrus's hand. The gems flashed as if someone had shone a flashlight's beam across them, and the needle sprung to life.

"WOWIE! FRISK FIXED IT!" the skeleton exclaimed, shifting the compass back and forth; no matter how he moved it, the compass pointed steadily in one direction – the heading, they knew, that would take them straight to the site of the barrier. To the entrance of the Underground.

"guess that answers that," Sans observed.

"Um… It- It won't be easy to convince Toriel to, um, let you go, Frisk," Alphys pointed out.

"Well, I guess we don't actually _have_ to tell Toriel where we're going," Undyne mused, considering the idea of dishonesty for all of thirty seconds. A guilty expression crossed her face briefly, and was replaced by weariness. "No. She deserves to know. We have no idea how long we're going to be down there. She's not gonna like this."

"NO NEED TO WORRY! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL TALK TO TORIEL! ONCE I TELL HER HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS, I AM SURE SHE WILL BE HAPPY, TO LET US GO! AFTER ALL, WE ARE GOING, ON A QUEST TO SAVE THE PRINCE!"

Undyne and Alphys glanced at each other. All they had to go on was a dream and a mysterious compass. The circumstances were compelling, but hardly proof. And even if Frisk was right, there was no guarantee they'd succeed.

The naiad folded her hands on the table in front of her and closed her eye as she explained. "That's the thing, Papyrus. We can't tell her about Asriel."

"WHY NOT?"

Undyne opened her eye and just looked at him, considering her words carefully. Thankfully, Sans stepped in. "don't you want to surprise her, bro?"

"OH! OF COURSE!"

"So… how are we going to convince her?" the drake asked, hoping someone _else_ had some ideas.

"i'm sure we'll figure something out," Sans said with a shrug. "we'll make it up as we go."

* * *

The boss monster opened the door to an immediate, cheerful greeting. "HI, TORIEL! WE WERE JUST COMING OVER TO TELL YOU, HOW MUCH WE, APPRECIATE YOU?"

She blinked, taken aback, then smiled. "Um, thank you very much, Papyrus. I appreciate you too!"

Alphys sniffed. "Are you, um, baking something?"

"I am baking snail-and-cinnamon cookies. The first batch should be cool enough to eat now. Please come in!" Toriel ushered the group into the kitchen and began prying cookies off a baking sheet with a spatula.

"THAT IS A VERY NICE DRESS YOU ARE WEARING. VERY FASHIONABLE," Papyrus commented.

Toriel paused in the middle of scraping a cookie off the sheet, giving him a strange look out of the corner of her eye.

 _Enough of this,_ Undyne thought. Better to get straight to the point. "Actually, Toriel, we came over here to let you know that Frisk – that _we_ – need to go back to the Underground."

The boss monster shifted nervously. "How do you like the cookies? Is there too much salt in them?" she asked with a forced smile.

The drake swallowed a bite before she was completely done chewing in order to answer. "They're very good!"

Undyne refused to be derailed. "We don't know how long we're going to be down there."

Realizing that diversion wasn't working, Toriel dropped both the fake smile and the spatula. "Why? What is down there? It has been abandoned."

The naiad faltered at the question. Frisk told Toriel it was important, and didn't say more.

Sans chimed in to back the child up. "they wouldn't say. but they're real insistent that we go."

Toriel frowned, and a charge of magic gathered in the air. It hadn't coalesced into visible shapes, but they could _feel_ it all around them. Boss monster and human stared fiercely into each other's eyes. A wind that could not be natural began to blow lightly, though the windows were closed.

Then it died down again, and the magic dissipated as Toriel's shoulders slumped. "I remember that look, my child. I could not stop you then. I suppose I cannot stop you now. If it is truly that important to you, I have no choice but to allow it. Please be careful, my child. The Underground will be more dangerous with no one to maintain it."

Frisk ran up and gave Toriel a hug.

Undyne straightened up, closed her eye, and placed her fist over her chest. "On my honor, as former captain of the Royal Guard, I formally take full responsibility for this expedition. I will do everything I can to keep Frisk and the others safe, and should I fail, the blame will be mine and mine alone. You have my promise."

Toriel released Frisk from the hug and nodded at the naiad. "Thank you, Undyne." But there was a hardness in her stare – she would hold Undyne to that promise, and all present knew it.

The child thanked Toriel for the cookies, and told her they'd be fine, and would be back soon. They asked their friends if there was anything they needed to get before they went, but nobody could think of anything to bring.

So they set out, heading back toward the site of the barrier, steeling themselves for the journey that lay ahead, and soon, they stood at the mouth of the cave. Papyrus, wearing the compass by its chain around his neck, flipped it open; the needle pointed directly into the cavern.

Frisk turned and took one last look at the surface world, at the sunlit hills and valleys and the distant cities glinting under the cloudless blue sky. The beauty of it filled them with _determination_.


End file.
